Page 1385 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 3 May 2016
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The default insurance fund has faced another hurdle when assisting those with asbestos-related diseases contracted during the course of work. It has been unable to initiate legal action against another insurer or other tortfeasor or use another contribution for damages it receives to offset statutory claim costs paid to it. This means that, unlike other insurers, the default insurance fund would be unable to recover payments it makes from a manufacturer of an asbestos product. Recovery or a contribution from other parties responsible for the injury could only be obtained by pursuing a common law process. This bill will also overcome this deficiency.
Where there is a gap between recoveries made by the default insurance fund from former employers, insurers or manufacturers of asbestos products, payments for work-related asbestos disease made by the fund are financed through a levy on workers compensation premiums. The DIF levy is determined annually and is currently at 1.4 per cent of the gross written workers compensation premiums. Asbestos-related claims are projected to require an increase in the levy.
With mortality rates from asbestos-related diseases expected to peak between now and 2020, this bill will remove obstacles for workers and their families receiving timely, fair and adequate compensation. I commend the bill to the Assembly.
Debate (on motion by Mr Smyth) adjourned to the next sitting.
Children and Young People Legislation Amendment Bill 2016
Dr Bourke, by leave, presented the bill, its explanatory statement and a Human Rights Act compatibility statement.
Title read by Clerk.
DR BOURKE (Ginninderra—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children and Young People, Minister for Disability, Minister for Small Business and the Arts and Minister for Veterans and Seniors) (11.24): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
Madam Deputy Speaker, as Minister for Children and Young People, I am pleased to table the Children and Young People Legislation Amendment Bill 2016. In January 2015 the ACT government launched “A step-up for our kids: one step can make a lifetime of difference”, the new five-year strategy to reform out of home care in the ACT. The aim of the strategy is a simple one—to give our community’s most vulnerable children and young people better lives. This bill is the final amendment needed to give effect to important elements of this significant reform and follows on from the previous three amendments to the Children and Young People Act 2008 passed in 2015.
As is the case nationally, the ACT community is facing many challenges when it comes to providing out of home care services. Outcomes for young people who have been in care are generally poorer than for the broader community, whether socially, in
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video